Merkel to not attend V-Day parade in Moscow

The German Embassy to Russia has confirmed reports about German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision not to attend a V-Day parade in Moscow on May 9.

The German Embassy to Russia has confirmed reports about German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision not to attend a V-Day parade in Moscow on May 9.

"The German Embassy can confirm, citing the German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert, that Chancellor Merkel will not attend the V-Day parade in Moscow on May 9. However she did propose that she and Putin together lay wreathes at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers outside the Kremlin wall on May 10, as she considers it important to jointly pay tribute to the end of the Second World War and liberation from the National Socialism," a source in the German diplomatic mission told Interfax in Moscow on Wednesday.

Pictures of veterans from Russia and Ukraine will be displayed in
Moscow in April. As part of the commemorations of the 70th anniversary
of the end of World War II in May, Arthur Bondar hopes to publish a book
of 70 of the portraits.